Global Daily Tax News, OECD Guides On Designing And Implementing Tax Incentives, (May 5, 2026)

The OECD has recently released a new report that is intended to support policymakers and practitioners, particularly in developing and emerging economies, to better design and implement tax incentives.

The report – A Practical Guide to Investment Tax Incentives – is intended to support governments to better design and implement investment tax incentives, with guidance on conception and design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. For each stage, the guide discusses key considerations, including practical policy options, drawing on lessons from country experiences worldwide.

The report says: "Tax incentive policymaking varies substantially across countries and contexts. Some governments deliberately seek to minimize the use of tax incentives, relying instead on broader measures to foster investment, whereas others view targeted tax relief as a key tool to attract specific types of investment or address perceived policy needs."

"While many common best practices apply to all incentives, differing government resources and economic and political contexts impact the most feasible or appropriate options for policymakers. Evidence on the effects of some features of tax incentive design and implementation is well understood, but the effects of other aspects can be less clear cut and will require weighing expected benefits with potential costs," the report says.